Think I have a very poor endowment - can I cash it in without losing money?

NigellaXpress

I'm a bit of newbie & not very knowledgeable, so please be gentle!

I have an endowment with Scottish Widows that I took out in 1993 for 25 years. It is supposed to reach £45k by 2018, but the projections are looking dire. Current value is £16k.

SW predicts that, if it grows at:
3% each year, I will get £22k,
5% each year, I will get £25k
7% each year, I will get £28k

Do you know if I can just pull out the money? Will I be penalised?

I'm not too sure how these things work, but I need to look at some ways of making up the shortfall.

dunstonh

Do you know if I can just pull out the money?

usually you can.

Will I be penalised?

Usually you but there can be penalty free exit points after a number of years. I recall some ex Black Horse Life endowments that only had surrender penalties in the first 10 years. They would now be badged scottish widows. So, its possible.

Ask Scot wid for current value and surrender value. That will tell you if there is a penalty.

NigellaXpress

That's really helpful thank you. It was originally a Black Horse policy, so that gives me hope.
I'll give them a call.

NigellaXpress

dunstonh, you were spot on. There is no surrender penalty, so the surrender value is the value on the day SW receive all the necessary documents.
Thank you.

dunstonh

Nice to know my memory is still up to scratch and getting lucky with them being ex Black Horse!